Early Fall Crappie Fishing on Lake Wisconsin

9-9-07 Sunday, Sept. 9th

This morning I had the pleasure of sharing my boat with Megan and Marty Lenss. Marty put in the winning bid for a half day gift certificate donated to the Dane County Airport’s annual United Way fund raiser. The gift certificate was good for a half day of fishing and today was the day when they reaped the rewards for their generous donation to United Way of Dane County, Wisconsin.

Megan is by no means new to fishing. She has spent plenty of time fishing from a boat with her dad in northern Wisconsin. Marty and his brother like to chase muskies but when it’s just the two of them, they prefer to fish for walleyes.
The first spot we stopped at was proving to be a pretty good one and despite having to use an open face spinning reel instead of the closed face one she is more accustomed to, Megan had the hot hand and was making the most of it. But Marty caught up soon enough and with both of them catching fish on a regular basis, no one seemed to care who caught the most or the biggest.
Around mid-morning things began to slow down a little and we decided to move on to another spot.
As luck would have it, plenty of fish were waiting for us there as well. All in all, the crappies and bluegills both bit much better than yesterday and these two had no trouble putting 25 nice eaten size crappies in the live well by the time we quit at a little after 11:00am.

It was a very enjoyable morning for me to be able to share my boat with these two and I’m pretty sure they will remember it for quite some time as well. Plenty of fish, lots of smiles and before we knew it the morning passed and it was time to go home.
The techniques we used were exactly the same as last week. Locations were also the same as was the depths we fished in.
This bite should last until the end of September, maybe a little more if we’re lucky. I do happen to have a rare opening left this coming Sunday. (Sept. 16th) So if anyone out there feels like getting in on some of the great crappie fishing action this fall, by all means give me a call!

9-8-07 Saturday, Sept. 8th

Bruce and Al Johnston came down from northern Wisconsin to chase crappies on Lake Wisconsin with me today and the weather was quite nice. Sunny, but not way to warm. The wind could have been just a bit stronger but other than that, it turned out to be a very pleasant day.
Surface water temperatures are running a bit high for this time of year but that should definitely change with much cooler weather predicted for this week. The surface was at 76 degrees early in the morning when we first hit the water and warmed up to 80 degrees by mid-day.
The crappie bite was not as good as it was last weekend but that didn’t seem to bother these two guys much. And after all, the bite last week was pretty exceptional. Bruce and Al still caught plenty of crappies and bluegills along with one tiny sauger, several sheepshead and some smallies. By the end of the day, they had managed to put 25 decent size crappies in the live well and Bruce released one big crappie also.
The guys then followed me to my place where we shared a couple of Heineken’s while I cleaned up the fish for them. All in all, it was a very pleasant day on the water. That’s the one thing I really love about fishing for crappies, it always seems to be a low stress endeavor. Just relax, enjoy the weather, the company and the time spent on the water catching fish!
On another note, I would like to add a very big “Thank You” to the service technicians at Don’s Marine in Lodi. We had a little motor trouble out on the lake and over the phone, they were kind enough to advise me on where to look to solve the problem on my 175hp Evinrude engine. Basically, the guys at Don’s Marine saved the day for me and my clients. Thanks agains guys!

Take care and good luck fishing out there!

Boog